When you think of the North American National Parks (NP), the image of the infrastructure and the typical commodities of the city stray far from the mind – unless, of course, you think of the Canadian NPs like Banff or even Jasper. A version of the Trans-Canada Highway is now being replicated in the Amazon. The Trans-Amazon Highway stretches from the coast of Peru to Brazil throughout the entire length of the Amazon rainforest and the continent. The Highway is one of the very few Earth’s features, besides the Amazon River and the Chinese wall, which is visible from space – glistening like a bare fish spine with connecting roads and infrastructure. How is that for modernization?!
The Canadian Parks Authority has implemented number of ingenious approaches to protect the variety of wildlife unknowingly crossing the Highway, from under- and over-passes built on portions of the road with the highest animal traffic, to visitor management policies protecting the camera-eager visitors from elk bulls during their mating and calving season. However, the Canadian NPs come shy of the Amazon’s biodiversity. I mean, how do you create similar protective strategies for the thousands of passing insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals? The simple answer is, you can’t, and besides, no one will pay for such “extravagant” expenditures.
I recall watching The Oprah Show a couple years ago devoted to sustainable living that showcased variety of “green” products. Among them soybean candles and a multitude of other soy-based products. I know Oprah means well; nonetheless, the soybean plant is the main reason for the aggressive development of infrastructure in Brazil, and also in Peru for the ease of access to the Pacific ports. Brazil alone, became the world’s leading exporter of soybean in 2005 with 39% of global export market share, only second to the United States. Much of the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest is being replaced with the monoculture of soybean plantations.
We are often only distant visitors watching the destruction of the beautiful vistas that are rich in biodiversity and ones we would love to continue to visit and admire. Yet, there are numerous options for us to consider in helping protect these places, both for ourselves and for those who live there. There are volunteer conservation projects in which we can participate, foundations and organizations which we can support, and university centers devoted to these goals which we can sponsor. One bold example is the Cool Earth Foundation where you can donate to purchase any amount of the rainforest to protect it from destruction and development. You can even view your protected plot of the rainforest in your Cool Earth account!
Photo By NewWorldReview Nicholas Gill Flickr